Yankees' Caballero Challenges First Automated Ball-Strike Call

0:00It's March 26th. You're listening to MLB News today, AI-powered baseball coverage. I'm Cory with the story. Majorly baseball kicked off its automated ball strike challenge system in the 2026 season opener between the Giants and Yankees. On Wednesday night, Yankees' shortstop Jose Caballero made history as the first player to challenge a call strike in a regular season game. It came on a 91-mop per-hour sinker from Giants pitcher Logan Webb, ruled a strike by umpire Bill Miller in the top of the fourth inning. The call stood. Caballero signaled the challenge right away on the first pitch of his at-bat. Unfortunately, viewers on Netflix's broadcast missed the Hawkeye replay graphic because an interview with the Giants manager was running instead. All they saw was the umpire confirming the challenge failed. The moment felt a little flat for such a milestone, but the Yankees still lead 5-to-nothing early with starter max-fried dealing on the mound. The system has roots in the minor league since 2019 and spring training trials last year.

1:03Teams get two challenges per game, keeping them if successful and earn extra and extra endings if they've used them up. The strike zone spans 17 inches wide, customized by high top at 53.5% of a player's stature, bottom at 27%. Percent. Spring training saw a 52.2% success rate on 2.6% of pitches, with one challenge left from New York. This debut sets the states for how automated reviews could change umpiring across the league moving forward.